Fireflies
by shanaynay11
Summary: POnyboy thinks his troubles are over after the greasers stomp the Socs butts...but it really is only begining. When a stranger walks into the Curtis brother's lives, they will have to decide: Soc or Greaser...or neither?
1. Party at the DX Station

When I stepped out into the chilled winter breeze, there was but one thing on my mind: My best friend.  
>Her name was Hannah. She was tall, dirty blonde hair, your average couldn't find more of a Soc anywhere in town. She was pretty, I guessed, but I had seen her without makeup before, and trust me, it sure didn't look like her.<br>I was on my way to her house, right after school. We didn't live very far apart, just a couple of blocks away. I zipped up my jacket and trudged through the cold weather. Along the way, I passed a DX station, and figured I should stop and catch a smoke there, because Hannah didn't smoke, or know I did. It was better that way. One time I was talking to her and I was messing around with her and told her I was smoking. She decided it'd be a good ideal to tell her other frinds I was smoking, so then I realized if I ever did smoke to not tell Hannah.  
>As I walked up to the station, I saw one guy-no, two guys, one was behind the car-washing a car.<br>I felt awkward as I approached them, because I knew they were greasers. And Socs and greasers didn't mix. At all. It just wasn't a good idea. I didn't know why, or who decided it was like that, but it just was. Nobody really understood greasers and Socs. Greasers were white trash, had old, dirty clothes on all the time, you get the picture. But a Soc was the well privilaged, we had nice clothes, never wore a dirty outfit, but we were still white trash. Some adults understood. But they were too quick to make a decision on which one was better, they never really took the time to think about it. That was what really irked me, like they didn't care, it's like they knew their kids were being raised in the ghetto or something, but didn't care enough to get involved with it. Adults thought the greasers were the outsiders of the bunch, not taking sides, not being classified, and some thought the greasers were, being kicked around and never being honestly thought about. But now I realize, it was the Socs who were the true outsiders. The greasers got along with the no class's. Mostly. They never really fought at least. We could squish those two together. But us Socs, we didn't want anything to do with anyone but other Socs. I didn't know why. I still don't get it.  
>As I got closer, I saw the features of the two boys. They both looked around 16, was tall, and had a weird, serious looking face, while the other had a really doll looking face. I didn't realize then, but that was the cutest thing I had ever seen. Socs weren't cute, at least boys. I thought the greasers were always the really good looking kids. I didn't want to tell anyone that though, because my friends would hate me.<br>Once I got close enough, they narrowed their eyes at me."You here to jump us?"The cute one asked."'Cuz we ain't scared of you."  
>I just laughed. You learned to play it cool if you wanted to stay on the greasers good side, because they got really roared up if you messed with them.<br>"I'm not going to jump you, I'm by myself. And have you ever had a girl jump you before?"I bit my lip in a kindof flirty way. That was how I got by with a lot of stuff."They'd know better, you're too tough looking."  
>I let the bait sink in, and finally, the cute one sighed and wiped his greasy hands on his shirt."What can I do for you?"he asked in an exasperated tone.<br>I smiled."I just wanted to bum a ciggarette."  
>He raised an eyebrow."You smoke?"<br>Oh yeah, that was another thing. Most Socs don't smoke."No, I just asked for a ciggarette to make you mad. I wouldn't be wasting my time with you all. Look, I'll buy one."Their eyes flashed.  
>"You going to say anything dip wads?"I was getting impatient here.<br>He nodded and handed me a hole pack. As I reached for my back pocket, he stopped me."On the house."  
>"Thanks."I lit my ciggarette and smiled."Care if I hang here for a few?"<br>"What's a Soc want with us?"  
>I blew smoke in his face and he coughed."I want to come home with you and get some. No,"I chuckled, seeing both of their eyes get wide. It sure was easy to embarass greasers."I'm on my way to my friends house, and she doesn't smoke, so I just need to stay away."<br>"Sure. What's your name?"  
>Ugh. That. My name wasn't terrible. Everybody says they love it. But I hated introducing myself for the first time. Everyone thinks it's different. Why? "Celeste."<br>They looked at me."Really?"  
>"Don't say anything."I muttered and took a draw from my ciggarette.<br>"No, it's p-"  
>"I said, don't say anything. I've heard it all before."<br>The cute one shrugged and continued."My names Soda. That's Steve."He sprayed his friend with the water hose.  
>I nodded."Do you all work here everyday?"I asked.<br>"Not on weekends."  
>"Good, I might need more ciggarettes later if my dad keeps yelling at me like he does."<br>Their eyes flashed, but with what, I couldn't say.  
>"Where you headed?"Soda asked me.<br>"A friends house."  
>"Can I give you lift? My shifts almost over."<br>"Neah, it's only a block or so farther."  
>"Oh, okay. Well, it's been nice talking to you Celeste."<br>He said it right.  
>"Same here Soda. And Steve."<br>"You remind me of my friend , you both just joke around a lot."  
>"Oh. The funniest person I know is my step-brother. I don't care if it's a funeral, he would mutter something about money or the sky or something, but the funniest thing is he would have a link to what he was saying, so if you said it was random, he would be all like, nuh uh, I saw the ground which made me wonder why it was below instead of above us, and if it was above us, would we still walk on our feet or what? He's a greaser, you might know him."I didn't say it like "greaser, greaser,", I just used it as a classification.<br>"Sure, what's his name?"Steve asked me.  
>"Keith."I said solidly.<br>They gave me an incredulous look."Oh hell."Soda said.  
>"Are you kidding me?"Steve exclaimed.<br>They lost me."Huh?"  
>"Two-Bit is Keiths nickname. Is he short, loves Mickey Mouse and Chocolate cake?"Soda asked and I just nodded bewildered.<br>"That's good ol' Two-Bit."  
>So they knew my step-brother. That means there was a good chance that they had been to my house.<br>"Every gone to any house with Kei-Um, Two-Bit?"  
>They laughed."No, he bums around our house all the time."<br>I nodded."He ain't been to my house in a long time."I looked at the sky and it was almost dark."Shit!I'll never make it to Hannahs now!"  
>"You aren't thinkin' of walking over there alone are you? Because just 'cuz your a Soc don't mean you won't get jumped.<br>"No."I said slowly.  
>Soda looked at Steve, and Steve looked back at Soda, then Soda looked at me."Oh no,"Steve said.<br>"Why not?"Soda said indignantly.  
>"She's a Soc!"<br>"What?"  
>"Stupid West-Side Soc."Steve mumbled.<br>"Hey! Don't hate me because you ain't me. Cool it."  
>Soda stared and then put his arm carelessly around me.<br>"Don't cry, I can't stand it if a girl cries. Don't listen to Steve neither."  
>"One:I ain't going to cry. Two:Better take your arm from around me, if my boyfrind finds out he'll woop your ass."<br>He just laughed and did as was told. "You boyfriend must be lucky."  
>That was a thouchy subject. Dallas...he was a douche. I'm not lying. He was mean and he hit me all the time.<br>"I only date him to fit in. Not because I like is mean."  
>"D-Dallas?"Steve stuttered.<br>"Yeah, why, you know him too?"  
>They were quiet.<br>"No. We had a friend named Dallas."  
>That was all they said and I didn't say anything either, with the way they said "had".<br>Just then a worker(maybe more the boss) stepped out of the entrance and yelled,"Quit'n time, get outa here."  
>They howled and turned off their hoses.<br>"So, you wanna come by our-"  
>"I said no!"<br>"Why, it ain't your house anyways!"  
>"It isn't yours neither."<br>"Well, I don't care what you say, I'm at least giving her a ride back to her house."  
>Soda led me to his car and I got in.<br>He shut the door and went around the front of the car, not taking his eyes off me, and he slipped in oil. I chuckled."I'm alright."He muttered.  
>"He sure does hate me doesn't he?"I asked Soda.<br>"Everyone does."He said blankly.  
>"You do?"<br>He shook his head."No, not me, but everyone that's not as good as you does."  
>"So you mean all the greasers?"I didn't mean that. I realized too late what I had said.<br>"Just get out if your gonna be like that!"  
>"I didn't mean that."<br>"I they don't like you because you all are mean. You jump passersby."  
>I was angered."I do not. My friends, maybe. Not ME though."<br>He snorted."Right, because your too pretty to get blood or something on you."  
>I ignored the Soc jibe."Turn left."<br>We drove mostly in silence after that until we pulled up.  
>"Big time Soc house huh?"<br>"Would you please cut it out?"I asked politely.  
>"Sorry, force of habit."<br>I went to step out of the car before he stopped me."Hey, I've been thinking, if your a Soc, how is Two-Bit a grease?"  
>That was easy. No rhyme or reason to it really."His dad lives in the East. He's only here when he has it with his dad."<br>"Okay, just ask Two-Bit where I live if your dad ever kicks you out or welcome to stay there."  
>I blinked, not knowing if I would ever take him up on his offer."Thanks."I stepped out and ran to the door. Once I was inside, I couldn't help thinking,'Will I ever have something to tell Keith!'<p> 


	2. Terrible at Math

"Hey Soda, what do you think you're doing, pickin' up Socs? Haven't we learned our lesson from your brother?"  
>I rolled my eyes at Darry, knowing he wasn't being serious. Darry was never strict with me, not really.<br>Ponyboy lit a ciggarette."What's she like?"he asked.  
>I kicked off my shoes and threw my jacket towards the couch, missing. I yanked my shirt off and plomped down on the couch."Like any other Soc I guess...well, not really. She was cool I guess.<br>"Pretty?"Darry asked me.  
>"Yeah. A real looker. Hey, you'll never guess!"<br>Two-Bit looked up from Mickey Mouse."Huh?"  
>I busted out laughing."It's your little sister!"<br>He gagged."Celeste?"  
>I nodded.<br>"What kinda name is that? It sounds like stylist."  
>"Poor girl."Pony said kindly.<br>"Poor boy."Two-Bit countered.  
>"Huh?"Pone asked confuzzled.<br>"I said poor boy!"Two Bit yelled and tackled Ponyboy.  
>I decided against saying anything else about her."So, the Socs, they been hangin' 'round here any?"<br>Ponyboy grinned wildly."Naw, we wooped 'em real good this time!"  
>"That's right little buddy."Darry said. He had gotten into a habit of calling Pony little buddy too now.<br>"Wait wait wait, if she's a Soc and Two-Bits a grease..."Pony asked, not wording his question right.  
>"I live there when I got to, and only then."Two-Bit grumbled.<br>I saw Ponyboy was studying."What'cha doing?"  
>"Math."<br>"Need help?"I grinned to myself, knowing that was my worst subject.  
>He looked up."Do you know what 5 to the 3rd power plus, in parenthesis, 7 to the 3rd power times 100 is?"he asked me.<br>I stood up and walked over there, grabbing the pencil.  
>"So, 7 times 3 is ...22...22 times 100 is 2200, then 5 times 3 is...15...2200 plus 15 is 2215."I said, throwing the pencil back down."See, it's easy."<br>Ponyboy just stared at me."Are you sure you made it to 10th grade?"  
>I creased my eyesbrows. What did I do wrong now?"What did I do?"<br>He sighed."Exponents means to multipy the big number by itself however many times the little number says to. So it'd be...34425, I think...And Soda?"  
>I tried to follow along with the marks his pencil was making, but couldn't quite."Huh?"<br>"7 times 3 is 21 dip crack."  
>"Don't you know not to let Soda-dope help you with homework?"Darry muttered.<br>"Are you sure Pony?"I asked him.  
>He gave me a sarcastic look."Okay, Okay, your right.<br>"I'm going to grab some chocolate cake and head outa here."  
>"Where you going?"Pony looked up from his book.<br>"I meant go to bed."  
>"It ain't that late kid."<br>"I know, a long day at work though."  
>After I grabbed some cake like i said, I lied down in bed.<br>"I need a tutor or something, it doesn't matter if I am a drop-out."  
>'Sure the hell do.'I heard a little voice in my head say, and I smiled, dozing off.<p> 


	3. Sleeping on Stranger's Porches

When I got home, Two-Bit wasn't there. Probably at Soda's house, I thought.  
>As soon as I threw my purse down, I familiar voice yelled:"Damnit!"<br>It was my step-mom."You...okay?"I asked her wearily. I wasn't sure if she was just being sarcastic or if she was in one of her bitchy mood's.  
>"No, No I'm not! I come downstairs 4 hours later and look at this, the house is still a fucking wreck!"<br>I thought back to when she said anything about the house, but it didn't ring a bell. Then I remembered."Blane-"she cut me off, cussing as she fopund my dog in the bathroom drinking out of the toilet.  
>Blane was my little brother. I thought he looked quite a lot like me, except our eyes were a bit different. I could never tell if my eyes were green or blue. I didn't really like either of them, because if I thought they were a green color, I thuoght it looked like diareah, but if I thought they looked blue, well, people with blue eyes always looked really pretty and I didn't think I was too much of a looker 's were definitely blue, but if he ever got pissed enough, you could almost watch as they changed way, I had no clue where either of us got our eyes from, my dads were green and brown, changing whenever he got mad, like my brother, and my real mom's eyes were brown. After I started thinking about my mom, I thuoght it was bad I couldn't even remember the color eyes she had without looking back at a little brother was 9 and I was 14, so that makes 3 straight years we hadn't seen our mom. We had seen her three times in the same month, which was a rush. Once she appeared at my doorstep, quite frankly scaring the hell outa me, the other two times at a funeral, my great grandmothers. Not exactly the best place for a family reunion. Well, maybe it was, but you get what I mean, not the happiest place for it.<br>So deep into thought, I didn't pay much attention to the raging Steph barging past me, almost knocking me to the ground.  
>She always blamed me and my brother on the way the house looked, always. Unless it looked half ass decent, then she had stayed up all night cleaning and bleaching the floor, when really, she all but stuck the wash raggs down our throughts making us scrub it all down. Yeah, I guessed family was like that.<br>I wanted to tell her,"Look, it was Keith!"But when she was in her rants, I knew she could knock someone flatt on their butts, so I didn't say anything.  
>So instead, I just began to clean. About 15 minutes later my dad showed up. Luckily, all I had to do was sweep. He came in with a couple of bags of groceries. I sighed, knowing I might as well start putting them up, because he always makes me do it. When I started to pt something in there, he said,"Whoa whoa whoa, clean some of it out anything away that is old."As aggravated as I was, I snapped.<br>"What about these, huh, the blackberries have been in here since the middle of summer."I grabbed them out of the freezer and held them up.  
>He shook his head."They're still good, I'll eat them one of these days."<br>I rolled my eyes silently. You do it when you close your eyes and roll them, that way no one can see you and say anything.  
>"Fish sticks?"I held up the half empty box. No use in keeping the nasty things, no one eats them but you.<br>"No! They're still good. Only throw the bad stuff away."  
>After I did that, I grabbed the first thing I saw and shoved it into the freezer."You need an attitude adjustment little lady."<br>"No I don't, and you can get over it when I work my ass off on this house while you're running around to your friends house's and if we ask to go anywhere, it's always,'Not with the house looking like this!'!"That was the first time I had ever cussed in front of my dad, let alone to my dad. And with the way he had been yelling at me lately, it wasn't going to be my last either. He could bite me.  
>He slapped me, knocking the bag of brocoli out of my hands, I just held my cheek, too shocked to cry, He had never hit me. Ever. He's whipped me a good couple of times, but it didn't take me long to learn my lesson there. He had never slapped me across the face like he did.<br>"Don't cry, I know I didn't hit you that hard."  
>"You shut up!"I wasn't scared if he hit me again, I knew I'd deserve it now. "You shut the hell up! You get mad about something, it could be anything in the god damned world, it could be the color of the sun that sets you off, and just sit there and let you scream and rip and roar, but I've had it up to here with you, yelling and cussing and griping, and I'm done!"<br>"Don't you use that tone with me and watch your mouth!"  
>But the blood in my ears were too loud to hear what else he said.<br>I pushed past him and stomped out of the house.I didn't run. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing me do that, I knew better. But I sure as hell was trying to get out of there fast.I knew I didn't have anywhere to go, but I guessed that I would find out whenever I got there.  
>I found myself stomping off past the DX station, and it hit me, I remembered Soda's words.<br>I probably should have went home then, but if you thuoght I was going to go back to yelling and screaming of my father, you have got to be outa your mind.  
>So I found a payphone(luckily I still had some change from lunch at school) and called Two-Bit's dads house, remembering too late that he wasn't there.<br>"Huh?"A drunken Brian mumbled through the phone.  
>I've always thought it hilarious when people are drunk. Maybe it is because of the way they sound. I dunno.<br>"You know Keith's friends house, where he's always at?"  
>He mumbled something incoherent."Yeah..."<br>I was losing patience."Where the hell is it Brian?"  
>He mumbled a few lefts and rights, and I cought 'from your house...''Picket..."<br>So I guessed I could figure it out.  
>"Whatever drunk bastard."<br>Brian just laughed and hung up the phone. Or maybe it was because you could say almost anything and it was funny to them.  
>I took off for the "directions" he gave me, and once I was about to give up with rambling around in the darkness, I thuoght i found it. It was an old shabby yard, not messy, but not straight. I guess what you could call normal in this neighborhood.I heard loud music blaring and a few voices yelling from the house.<br>I had my jacket on, so I figured I could just wait until the noise died down to go inside.  
>I sat down, and little did I know then, but as soon as I closed my eyes to rest, I was out like a light.<p> <p>


	4. Keith's compassion

Darry was the first one up, as usual, so he made breakfast.

I got up next, then woke Pony up, of coarse tickling him. I knew it was getting old, because I always tickled him to wake him up. I needed a new method.  
>"Fried tomatoes and potatoes and onions?"I asked disgusted by his choice of breakfast after I had woken Pony up.<br>He rolled his eyes."Just add some sugar to it, you'll eat it."  
>I crinkled my nose."More likely to make it blue."I mumbled, but didn't say anymore. I knew better than to complain about eating something. We were lucky we could afford anything to eat, you know?I hated the smell of burnt things. They smelled like...whatever you wanted to call it...I don't know.<br>As I forked my food, Ponyboy and Darry were continuing a never ending argument. I caught a little of it, but tried not to. I hated it whenever they fought. I hated fights, period, not just their fights.

_I was walking home from the movies, Darry was 14, I was 11 and Pony was 8 and Dad always made Darry take me and Pony wherever he went. He had said that we were keeping him out of trouble, because Darry was smart enough to not do anything with Pony around. Me...I probably wouldn't have ratted him out about anything really. Me and Darry always excluded Ponyboy, no matter if it was playing football, watching T.V, and sometimes just sitting there and chilling with us. I was younger, I'm not that shallow anymore._  
><em><br>Anyways, we were walking. Darry was pissed because Dad made us come with him, which I didn't see why it was a big deal then;he made us go everywhere with him, like I said before. When I had asked him, he said,"I was meeting my girlfriend."_  
><em><br>This shocked me and Ponyboy. As far as we knew, Darry didn't date. Ponyboy stayed quiet for a few minutes, then asked,"Why the hell does that matter?"_  
><em><br>That was the first cuss word that came from Pony's mouth. Hell. My mouthed dropped."P-Pony? Did you just..."I couldn't even say it._  
><em><br>He gave me an indignant look and shrugged his shoulders. I even think I remember the color of the shirt was green."Dad cusses, Darry cusses, you cuss, why does it matter if I do?"_  
><em><br>I was taken aback. I'd never cussed. Only once. And that was because someone had threatened Pony. Darry stopped."What did you just say to me?"_  
><em><br>I sighed.'No, please no, not here, wait 'till we get home, tell Mom and Dad, don't try to be big and handle it Darry!'I pleaded. I knew if Darry hit Pony, or even yelled at him, I wouldn't be able to say anything, because Pony was wrong to cuss, but it was true that Darry cussed too, so he probably picked the language up from Darry himself._  
><em>Pony straightened his back a little."You heard what I said. And you can hear this too; I'm sick of it. You hate me, and so does Sodapop. You both hate me and want me to stay away from you all. Am I not good enough to sit with you and your girlfriend through a movie?"he asked.<em>  
><em><br>I made a little sound in the back of my throught."Pony...that's not true. I love you, honest...it's just..."I looked at Darry, making sure it was okay, but it was useless, he was watching Pony."We're older Pone. You're 8. That's like you hanging out with a 2 year old with Darry, or you hanging out with a 5 year old for me. It wouldn't-"_  
><em><br>"Maybe you don't hate me, but I know he does."_  
><em><br>Darry clinched his fists."Listen here, baby."My eyes widened at that name. I'd heard it all my life. Baby, Baby, Baby, always insults to Pony, at even to me when I was really little. But this time, it was real. All the other times were just nit picking. This time...it was serious."you're going to tell mom you aren't coming with me or Soda anywhere else, because you're too young. You're going to tell her that the next time I want to go somewhere, you don't feel good. Sodapop can come. He's not a baby."I shrunk at that thought, us two going places, while he stayed home."You're going to tell her anything to stay away from us."_  
><em><br>Pony spit, not at him, but to the side."You're just mean! You do hate me!"_  
><em><br>Darry narrowed his eyes and nodded._  
><em><br>I couldn't even say anything as my little brother and big brother were fighting and Darry told him he hated Pony._

"Hey, where's Steve?"I asked, realizing he wasn't there.  
>Darry looked up at me."He left."<br>"Did he say how come?"  
>He shook his head.<br>"Well, I guess I'll just go then. Bye."I grabbed my wallet and headed to the door. I was really planning to try to get Steve to give me a ride, because I hated driving, and everytime I did it seemed like I got a speeding ticket. Too many drag races or something probably.  
>"Holy shit!"I gasped, seeing Celeste sitting right there on my porch asleep, wearing the same purple dress she was in the night before.<br>I re-opened the screen door and yelled,"Boys, come take a look at our visitor!"  
>That woke Two-Bit up, and then Celeste opened her eyes."Oh my gosh I'm so sorry, I'll leave."She stood up to leave at the time Two-Bit walked out the door.<br>"What's your deal...CELESTE? Why the hell are you here?"  
>I smiled and Darry and Ponyboy stepped through the was looking at the 4 of us like we were sadistic killers or something.<br>"I...my dad...we, we got into it last night. I called your dad and asked where you were and he told me, so I came. I just needed a place to stay for the night."  
>I felt so bad for her. I could hear how scared she was.<br>Two-Bit looked at her for what seemed like an eternity, then un-tensed."Did he hit you?"  
>She looked at her feet.<br>I looked into Two-Bit's eyes and saw what he felt:Compassion. Two-Bit, the prankster, the jokester, the person who'd down a hole carton of milk, just so no one else could have any, was showing compassion for his little sister, all because her old man had laid a hand on her. And the part that gets me the most, is what he said next.  
>"Don't worry, I meant what I said."I winked at her.<br>"And what did you say?"Two-Bit asked me.  
>I shrugged."Told her if anything ever happens she was welcome to come here.<br>"You know she's a Soc!"  
>That was when I got ticked.<br>"Yeah? Well you know she's your sister!And just a second ago you were about to, I dunnno, like, hug her or something!"  
>He gave me a hard stare bringing that up, because the rest of them didn't see it."That doesn't matter, she is a Soc and I hate her!"<br>Celeste stepped up now."Listen here, pal, I don't give two craps how old you are, you can cool your jets or I'll woop your ass."  
>I could tell she wasn't even joking.<br>Which made it funnier.  
>"Oohhhhh, Two-Bit's gonna get wooped by his little sister!"I teased.<br>"Sibling throwdown!"Pony joined in.  
>"Come on, Two Bit, lay off. Soda, get to work. I'm heading out, Pony...You can skip today and hang out with Celeste."<br>Ponyboy nodded, but if it was because of Darry's statement, I didn't think so, because he never took his eyes off of Celeste.  
>"Finally, he's getting interrested in women!"I punched him lightly.<br>Two-Bit rolled his eyes."Nasty. And she is barely a woman."  
>She rolled her head."Just shut your trap greaser and go get a job hobo. Oh, and next time, clean your damn mess up before you leave my house."she muttered and pushed him.<br>We all laughed and scattered.  
>"Hey!"I called back from our old crappy car, over loud just to see if anyone else on the street could hear me."Nothing dirty while we're gone now!"<br>"Eh, who knows?"Celeste replied coolly."Why?"  
>I laughed."I dunno."<p> 


End file.
